Amna Tekie

Amna Tekie was President of Eritrea from 1 January 1951.

Biography
Amna Tekie was born in Italian Eritrea to a Sunni Muslim Tigrinya family, and she was involved in politics since a young age, when she began campaigning for the independence of Eritrea. On 1 January 1951, the United Kingdom gave independence to Eritrea, and Tekie was the first president of the new country. Unfortunately, on 19 January 1951 the Ethiopian Empire of Haile Selassie declared a war of aggression on Eritrea, and by March 1951 Asmera had been occupied. She moved the seat of the government to Aranat, and Tekie aligned Eritrea with the USSR during the Cold War around that time.